Appeal No. 1998-2932
Application No. 08/603,680
is included in processor 40, we do not agree. It may be broadly stated that Shultz’s
processor 40 does send and receive signals, because the processor 40 does send
signals to the transistors through the gate drives and the processor 40 does receive
signals from the temperature input on line 68 and command input on line 69. However, a
transceiver is commonly known in the art as sending and receiving “communication”
signals. The signals described with regard to Shultz’s processor 40 are not
communication signals. Column 4, lines 44-48, of Shultz does describe the
microcontroller 40 as providing on-board or diagnostic multiplexed “communications” to
provide warnings or other operating indicia externally of the system, wherein the
diagnostics and “communications” functions are denoted by box 70 in Figure 1. However,
while processor 40 is described as providing “communications” signals, there is no
indication that there is any signal received by the processor 40 regarding the warnings or
other operating indicia. In fact, it would seem that the communication is only one way if the
processor is providing warning signals to an operator. Without two-way communication,
the processor 40 of Shultz cannot be said to comprise a “transceiver,” as required by
independent claim 1.
Turning to the rejection of claims 2-4, we will not sustain the rejection of these
claims since they are dependent on claim 1 and neither Cruickshank nor Tomita, relied
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